Blinding Lights
by VoicesOffCamera
Summary: Soda remembered lights. Blinding lights. Confused he had quickly hit the brakes. It was out of instinct he had braced himself against the steering wheel. It wasn't until he heard the crunching of metal and the shattering of glass as he felt the truck pitch violently to the side that he really understood what was happening. [One-Shot]


**Author's Note: **Well I've had a rough week. Really rough with a lot of heavy things going on in my life causing a lot of stress. And when I have rough weeks I use writing as an outlet. So this just kinda popped into my head and I just ran with it to help me get some emotions out. Let me know what you think! Keep in mind this was before the common use of seat belts and airbags. And for those of you who follow my other stories, I'm hoping to get Don't Let Me Go updated early this week, I've been a little unfocused the past week.

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**Blinding Lights**

Sodapop was bored. He lay sprawled out on his bed while Pony sat at his desk working on homework. Soda was attempting to amuse himself by distracting Pony while he worked and Pony pretended to be annoyed, but Soda could see the smile that he tried to hide.

Finally Pony firmly closed his math textbook. "There. I'm done," he announced.

"Well it's about time!" Soda declared.

Pony laughed as he turned in his seat. "I woulda been done sooner if you woulda just been quiet."

"I'm never quiet," Soda laughed. He sat up quickly. "Hey, now that you're done with your homework, you wanna go for a drive? I gotta get out for a while."

"Sure!" Pony agreed immediately.

Soda leapt up off of the bed, excited to finally have something to do. He hurried out into the living room with Pony on his heels. As usual Darry was sitting in the recliner reading the paper.

"Hey Darry!" Soda said as he headed for the door. He sat down on the floor and began pulling his shoes on. "Can me and Pony go for a drive?"

Darry raised an eyebrow at him over the paper and then looked over at Pony who was waiting for his response. "Did you finish all your homework, Pony?"

"Yeah, I did," Pony said.

"_All_ of it?" Darry asked skeptically.

"Yeah, all of it, I swear," Pony said, rolling his eyes slightly.

Darry sighed as he slowly put the paper down. "I dunno. It's gettin' late and you got school in the mornin'."

"Ah, come on, Darry," Soda spoke up from where he sat on the floor. "We won't be gone long."

Darry hesitated and then looked down at his watch. "Okay, I want you to be home by ten," he allowed.

Soda went to check his own watch only to realize he wasn't wearing it. "What time is it now?"

Darry chuckled. "Almost nine-thirty."

It was better than nothing Soda decided. "Alright, we'll be back!" He jumped up and motioned to Pony who was quickly pulling on his own shoes.

"Drive careful, Sodapop!" Darry called after them as they both headed out the door.

The two jumped in the truck and took off. They drove around aimlessly, joking and laughing as Soda sped along. They drove through the city and then out onto some more rural roads where Soda could push the truck even faster. Pony was just pointing out that they should probably start heading back home. Soda knew he was right. Pony and Darry had been getting along well lately and Soda didn't want to mess that up. It was a dark road, only illuminated by the truck's headlights with no businesses in sight and very few other cars passing by. Soda was just looking for a place to turn around…

Soda remembered lights. Blinding lights. They seemed to come out of nowhere. Confused he had quickly hit the brakes. It was out of instinct he had braced himself against the steering wheel. It wasn't until he heard the crunching of metal and the shattering of glass as he felt the truck pitch violently to the side that he really understood what was happening. Everything was chaos… and then very suddenly the world stopped and everything was silent.

Soda coughed. There was a metallic taste in his mouth. He looked around, trying to blink the fuzzy edges out of his vision. The scene was deathly quiet. Almost like a cemetery. It shook Soda down to his bones as he tried to get his bearings. Very suddenly his thoughts crystalized and he had one thing on his mind. Ponyboy.

"Pony?" Soda called desperately. He tried to look around but everything was dark. The silence that followed was painful. "Ponyboy!" Soda yelled as he looked across to where he thought his brother should be, squinting through the blackness. He had been on the seat right next to him just a moment ago. He reached out but felt nothing but empty air. He felt panic welling up in his chest.

Soda reached out to push his door open, but then immediately gasped in pain as his arm throbbed all the way up to his shoulder and radiating through the left side of his chest. He gritted his teeth as he reached across himself with his other arm and pulled the handle while he kicked the door open with his foot. He stumbled from the truck clumsily, almost falling to the ground but managing to catch himself with his good hand by grabbing onto the door of the truck. He looked around. The way around the front of the truck was blocked by a car that had smashed into the front left corner of truck. There was no movement coming from that car but Soda wasn't concerned with it. All he could think about was finding Ponyboy.

He hung onto the truck with his good hand as he slowly and painfully made his way around the back of the vehicle. As he reached the back passenger's corner he suddenly hunched over and retched as he gripped the top edge of the bed of the truck, hearing the contents of his stomach splatter to the ground. He coughed, feeling the pain in his chest as his throat burned. Carefully he stepped over the mess on the ground as he continued along to truck, finally grasping for the handle of the passenger's door.

As Soda pulled the door open he could feel a heavy weight on it. He was able to awkwardly reach out with his right arm and catch the falling weight and pull it against him, moaning loudly as the action caused pain to fly through his whole body. Slowly he sunk to the ground, blinking through the darkness trying to see his little brother.

"Pony? Ponyboy? Can you hear me?" Silence. Soda could feel his eyes welling up with tears. Why wasn't Pony answering him? His panic was slowly shifting to terror. Was this really happening right now?

Suddenly a bright light hit the scene. Soda flinched away from it as he blinked, confused. Then he looked down and felt his heart plunge down to his feet. Soda had Pony's head and torso cradled in his lap, his legs splayed out toward the truck from where Soda had dragged him down. There was blood pouring from his nose and from cuts around his nose and mouth from where he had presumably hit the dash. His eyes were closed but both were already beginning to blacken with bruises. There was also a gash on the side of his head just above his temple, sending blood down the side of his face.

"Pony… C'mon Pony… _please_ wake up," Soda begged, shaking him lightly. He noticed vaguely that he was trembling.

"Son?" Soda looked up sharply at the sound of the new voice. He realized for the first time that the scene was bathed in red and blue flashing lights. There were several police cars scattered around and also an ambulance and a fire truck. He had no idea how they had found them here, but he was immensely glad that they had.

"Please… please help my brother," Soda desperately said to the paramedic in front of him.

"Okay, just stay calm," the paramedic said carefully as he crouched down next to him. He reached out and carefully placed two fingers on Pony's neck. Soda found that he forgot to breathe as he watched. "He's got a pulse." The man sounded a little surprised. Then he called over his shoulder. "I need a stretcher over here!"

Soda leaned closer, carefully stroking Pony's hair with his shaking right hand. His left arm hung limply at his side, throbbing horribly. But he ignored it. "It's okay, Pony," he whispered. "It's gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay, I promise, baby."

Soda kept whispering comforting words to his little brother as other paramedics rushed over and began checking him over. Then very suddenly Pony was taken out of his arms. Soda felt empty as he saw Pony being taken away on a stretcher. He felt like he should get up and follow him but as he tried to get up the pain in his body suddenly soared to an excruciating level. He cried out as he fell back to the ground.

"Try not to move," the paramedic said, placing a hand gently on his shoulder to keep him down. "We need to check you out."

"My brother," Soda moaned, looking around frantically as he realized he couldn't see him anymore. "I need to stay with my brother."

"He's already in the ambulance, they're taking him to the hospital," the paramedic told him. "There will be another ambulance here for you in a minute." At that moment Soda finally started to realize that he might be really hurt. He was aware of the pain he felt, but it had seemed secondary to taking care of Pony. The man next to him carefully tilted Soda's head to one side and he could feel pressure on one side of his forehead. "You're losing quite a bit of blood here."

It took Soda a minute to comprehend that. He was staring down at his hands that were covered in Pony's blood. It wasn't his blood. He knew that. He was wearing a red plaid shirt unbuttoned over a white t-shirt. The white shirt was stained with bright red, a harsh contrast. Suddenly he wasn't real sure who's blood that was. Was it his? Pony's? Everything was suddenly fuzzy and he was having a hard time thinking straight. Everything was starting to blur together.

The paramedic was still speaking to him, but he had no idea what he was saying. Suddenly he was moving, watching the sky move by as he lay on his back. He didn't remember being placed on the stretcher. He was only vaguely aware of being in the ambulance with strange people huddled over him. He remembered closing his eyes. When he opened them again he could see bright, fluorescent lights moving passed overhead. He blinked. He felt so tired, like he could sleep for a week. His body felt heavy, as if there were a weight resting on top of it.

Finally things slowed down. The lights stopped moving overhead. A man he didn't know was leaning over him, looking worried. Soda's head was pushed to the side and he felt a stinging sensation. He moaned and tried to move his head away from it, but someone was holding his head in place.

"You need to stay still, dear. The doctor just needs to stitch up your head." It was a female voice talking to him. A nurse was holding his head in place. His whole body ached except for one particular spot on his forehead, which suddenly felt numb.

"Soda!"

Soda felt relief wash over him in a cool wave. "Darry!" he called. Even though he couldn't see his brother he could recognize his voice anywhere.

The nurse standing in front of him shifted and suddenly Darry was there, crouching down next to the bed he was in, looking pale and his expression bordered terror, which was odd since obvious emotion was so rare to see in Darry's hard features. "Are you okay?"

Soda swallowed. "Where's Pony?" he asked, ignoring the question. "They took him, I don't know where he is."

Darry shook his head. "I dunno yet, we just got here." He sounded tense. Soda glanced around at the word 'we' and spotted Steve and Two-Bit just behind Darry.

"I dunno what happened, Darry," Soda said, his voice on the verge of hysterics. "I was drivin' real careful, I swear, the other car came outta nowhere, I didn't even see it until after… I'm so sorry."

"Sh," Darry soothed. He reached out and carefully touched Soda's shoulder. The act was so gentle, especially for Darry, that Soda realized how physically broken he must look. "It's okay, it wasn't your fault Soda. They told me you were hit by a drunk driver. He crossed over the centerline. You couldn't have seen that comin', little buddy."

The pressure on his head suddenly released as the doctor finished with the stitches, but Soda was still focused on Darry. "Pony wouldn't wake up," he told him, his voice sounding very young and small. "I got him out of the truck but he wouldn't wake up."

"Okay, okay, calm down," Darry said, even though it was clear that he was disturbed by the news. "Let me see what I can find out."

Darry stood and moved over to where the doctor stood just a few steps away. As he moved away Steve immediately stepped up to take his place at Soda's side.

"You look like hell, buddy," Steve said, though the humor in his voice was clearly strained.

"You're not a such looker yourself," Soda croaked. He then focused back on Darry who was asking the doctor if he knew anything about Ponyboy. Soda did his best to focus but as his adrenaline from talking to Darry seemed to wear off thing were starting to become fuzzy again.

"I'm sorry, he's not my patient so I don't know anything about his condition right now," the doctor was saying. "I can try to find out some information for you in a minute once I finish up here." He paused and looked over a Soda briefly.

Darry didn't miss the look. "Is Soda gonna be okay?" he asked slowly, lowering his voice slightly though Soda could still hear him. Clearly Darry was horribly flustered with both his brothers in the hospital, unsure which one he should focus on first: the broken one in front of him or the one that wasn't even here.

"Paramedics say that he went into shock at the scene and lost consciousness when he got here," the doctor told him. "He has lost quite a bit of blood from the wound on his head. We gave him fluids which helped… however…" He let the thought trail for a moment and the tension between the gang was palpable in the room. "He desperately needs a transfusion and our blood bank is dangerously low of his blood type. I am also concerned that he may have some internal bleeding. We took him for x-rays as soon as he got here and we should have the results of that shortly."

Soda didn't even remember getting x-rays. Suddenly everything seemed to be fading away again. He felt so tired and he felt his eyelids sliding shut despite the fact that he wanted to stay awake to find how if Ponyboy was okay.

"Soda?" Steve's voice sounded awfully far away all of a sudden. "Soda?" Soda wanted to answer him but he was just so tired. "Darry, somethin's wrong."

"Soda?" It was Darry's voice this time. "What can we do for him?" Soda could just barely grasp the panic in his older brother's voice. Then the world slipped away.

XxXxX

Soda opened his eyes, but everything was blurry. The lights overhead hurt his eyes. There was a foreign object over his nose and mouth and he had the urge to swat it away, but he couldn't seem to lift his arms. He felt horribly uncomfortable. He felt sick to his stomach and his whole body ached dully.

"Soda?" The voice was gentle. Slowly Soda turned his head to see who had spoken. He spotted Darry sitting next to his bed. "It's okay Soda. Try not to move, okay little buddy?" Soda tried to say something, but his words came out mumbled and unintelligible. "Pony's still in surgery," Darry went on, guessing correctly what Soda had been worried about. "He'll be okay though." Soda could hear the doubt in his voice.

Soda tried to shift himself to find a more comfortable position, but he ended up simply moaning miserably. "Don't move, Soda," Darry said worriedly, leaning forward. He reached out and carefully took Soda's hand. That's when Soda noticed the red tube that was attached to Darry's arm. He followed the tube with his eyes as it disappeared down under his bed. Then it reappeared and attached to Soda's arm. "You've got some internal bleeding, little buddy. They're gonna stabilize you as much as they can and then take you into surgery soon to fix it."

His chest felt tight and there was a lump in his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut and felt tears escaping down his cheeks. He wanted to see Ponyboy, he wanted to know that he was okay. The image of Pony lying unconscious and full of blood was seared into his memory and it terrified him.

He felt a comforting hand on the side of his head and opened his eyes to Darry leaning over him. "It's gonna be okay, Soda," he said. "I promise."

Soda took in a breath through the oxygen mask. He clung onto Darry's words like a life raft. But all too soon strange people surrounded him. They were telling Darry that they had to take him away for surgery now. But Soda didn't want to go. He gripped onto Darry's hand as they started to get him ready.

"You're gonna be fine, Soda," Darry tried assured him, seeing the fear written in his features.

Soda couldn't find the will to relax though. He didn't want to go, he didn't want to be away from Darry. Just then the doctor came over.

"Darrel?" the doctor said. Darry looked over at him. "I have news about Ponyboy."

Despite everything Soda suddenly focused on the doctor.

"Is he okay?" Darry asked quickly, immediately tense.

The doctor smiled. "Yes, he is out of surgery and he is recovering just fine. You will be able to see him soon."

The relief was indescribable. Pony was okay. No matter what else happened Pony was okay.

Darry was next to him again, smiling. "Pony's okay," he reiterated. "And you're gonna be okay too. You hear? You'll get to see him when you wake up." That was the most comforting thing that he could hear in that moment. Darry ran a hand through Soda's hair affectionately. "I'll see you soon, Pepsi-Cola."

In the next moment Darry was gone. The bed he was in was being wheeled down a hallway. They entered a room and came to a stop. He wasn't quite sure how, but suddenly he was shifted onto the operating table. He looked up into the bright lights overhead. They reminded him too much of the headlights that had come straight at him earlier that night. He was feeling tired, even more so than he had before. The world blurred around him. And then everything went dark and he knew no more.

XxXxX

It was perhaps the most intense day of Darry's life. When he had gotten a phone call saying that both his brothers were in the hospital due to a car wreck, it was all he could do to not become physically ill. It was far too reminiscent of the night they had lost their parents, except Pony and Soda were just kids and they were his responsibly. He was supposed to protect them. Not to mention that they were the only family he had left. He if lost them… he would be completely alone.

At the hospital he had been able to immediately see Soda in the emergency room. The sight hadn't been pretty though. The gash on his head that the doctor had been in the middle of stitching up had been gruesome and there had been blood all along the side of his face and matted into his hair. The doctor had told him that the gash had probably been done by the steering wheel. His white shirt was stained with bright blood. There were angry bruises all along his left arm that disappeared up under his sleeve. His skin had been paler than Darry had ever seen a person before which made the dark bruises stand out even more horribly. When the doctor had lifted his shirt Darry could see the bruising was even worse along his ribs. That was where the internal bleeding was. They managed to stabilize him with a direct donation of Darry's blood before they took him into surgery. They said he would have a better chance that way.

Pony's condition had been even more nerve-wracking. At least he had been able to see Soda and even talk to him. Pony had been a complete mystery. The only one who had seen Pony was Soda, right after the accident. And Soda was terrified by what he had seen. That had put the rest of them all on edge. After Soda had passed out they had finally been able to get information about Pony. He had been in especially rough shape due to how small he was. There had been a long list of injuries. Fractured skull. Broken ribs. Broken wrist. Punctured lung. Ruptured spleen. Darry had felt dizzy with terror for his youngest brother. And Soda hadn't looked much better.

Darry sat in the quiet hospital room, looking over at Pony who lay asleep in the bed. He had finally come out of surgery about an hour ago, just after Soda had gone in to surgery. He was all bandaged up, an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, a cast on his left arm which was elevated by a pillow, and an IV in his right hand. He looked so young and so broken. The sight tore away at Darry. But he was alive. He was breathing. And the doctor assured him that as bad as Pony looked he expected him to make a full recovery.

Steve and Two-Bit sat on the other side of the room. They were both dozing off in their chairs. Watching them was the only indication how late it was getting. He didn't feel tired even though at this point it was getting close to two in the morning. He sipped on the cup of coffee in his hand. He had to stay up. He still had a brother in surgery. He wouldn't rest until he knew they were both okay.

Finally at long last Darry looked up to see orderlies pushing another bed into the room. Darry was immediately on his feet and hurrying around Pony's bed to get a look at Soda. The commotion caused Steve and Two-Bit to both stir. As they set up Soda's bed next to Pony's Darry took a good look at him. He looked a lot less horrific with the bloody clothes replaced by the clean hospital gown. There was a bandage over the gash on his forehead and there was an IV in his hand. He certainly looked better; even some of his color was starting to come back. Darry glanced around and saw the doctor helping to set up Soda's IV next to the bed.

"Is he okay?" Darry asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"The surgery went well," the doctor said with an encouraging smile. "The tear was worse than we thought. He probably did some damage while he was moving around after the accident. The paramedics said that they found him on the ground near the passenger's side with his brother in his lap. But we still managed to fix the bleed and with time he should make a full recovery." Darry sighed with relief as he felt the weight lift off of his shoulders. Both of his brothers were okay. Both were expected to make full recoveries. Nothing could make him happier. "He should be waking up soon. If he's in any significant pain you can page a nurse and she can up his painkillers. It'll take a little trial by error to get the right amount."

"Darry." It was Two-Bit who had spoken. Darry saw that he was hovering over Pony's bed. He felt his heart leap up into his throat as he noticed that Pony's eyes were open. It was the first time he had seen him awake since the accident. Steve stayed by Soda's side as Darry took a step closer to Pony's bed. Pony looked so small in that hospital bed. He eyes stared around with confusion and fear.

"Hey Pony," Darry said gently.

Pony looked over at him groggily. "Darry?" he mumbled through the oxygen mask.

"Stay still, kiddo," Darry said as he took a seat next to Pony's bed. "You were in a car accident tonight. Do you remember?"

Pony paused for a moment before very slowly he nodded his head. "I 'member a bright light an' a crash," he mumbled. Suddenly his eyes got wide. "Is Soda okay?"

"Soda's fine," Darry assured him with confidence. He shifted a little so that Pony could look across at his brother. "He just got out of surgery, but he's gonna be fine. You both are."

As Pony looked over at Soda Darry could see that he was still distressed at the news. Soda still looked pretty beat up with all the bruising and the bandage on his head. "He's gonna wake up?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah, kiddo, he's gonna wake up," Darry assured him.

"You sure?" Pony said, looking up at him.

"I'm sure," Darry said with a reassuring smile. "Now get some rest, okay Pony?" He wanted to reach out and take his hand, but it was in a cast. The rest of him look so broken too that Darry was afraid to touch him at all, afraid of hurting him.

Pony seemed exhausted and soon he was drifting back to sleep. He looked peaceful when he slept, if you could block out all the injuries. It was a small comfort to see him resting in any case.

"Darry, you should try and get some rest," Two-Bit spoke up.

Darry shook his head as he glanced back at Soda. Steve had settled into a chair next to his bed. "I want to know when Soda's wakes up," he said. The doctor's comment about painkillers had him worried.

"We can look after Soda and Pony," Steve spoke up.

"Thanks guys," Darry said. "But I'm not even tired. I just drank all that coffee. I'll be okay for a while." He leaned back in his chair and ran both hands over his face. He still felt overwhelmed by the whole situation. Here he was, sitting between his brothers' hospital beds, both of them broken. It was a heart wrenching sight, even if he was assured they would both recover.

It wasn't long after Pony fell back asleep when Soda began stirring, about a half an hour or so.

"Darry!" Despite his assurances of not being tired, Darry had been dozing off when he had heard Steve's voice. "Darry… I think Soda's wakin' up."

Darry immediately sat up and turned toward Soda's bed. Sure enough Soda's eyes were slowly blinking open, looking around blearily.

"Hey, Soda," Steve said with a smile, clearly looking relieved.

"Steve?" Soda mumbled, looking over at him, seeming confused. Then he squeezed his eyes shut, his features distressed.

"Soda?" Darry reached over and very gently placed a hand on his shoulder, resting his fingers very lightly so he wouldn't hurt him. Soda looked over at him. "Are you in pain?"

"Kinda," Soda croaked.

"Okay, we'll get a nurse, she'll give you more painkillers," Darry said gently. He glanced over at Steve but he was already on his feet, heading out the door into the hallway.

Soda didn't seem to notice. "Pony's okay?"

"Yeah, Pony's fine," Darry said with a small smile. Both his brothers had the same concern when they woke up. They were both worried about the other.

Steve came back a minute later with a nurse who immediately started to adjust Soda's IV. As the medicine began to take effect he seemed to relax. Darry was glad for that. It was so hard to his brothers in any pain, and this was beyond anything he had seen before.

"I'm real sorry 'bout tonight, Darry," Soda sighed, hovering partway between awake and asleep.

Darry smiled down on him lightly. He remembered what the doctor had said. _"The tear was worse than we thought. He probably did some damage while he was moving around after the accident. The paramedics said that they found him on the ground near the passenger's side with his brother in his lap." _Despite the pain he had been in clearly Soda had done everything he could to get to his brother.

"You did nothin' wrong tonight," Darry assured him. "I know you took care of Pony after the accident. You're a really good big brother, little buddy. And what matters now is you are both gonna be fine."

"I'll fix your truck," Soda mumbled as he began to drift off to sleep.

Darry couldn't help but chuckle lightly. That was so like Soda. "I'm sure you will, Pepsi-Cola."

"I'll help," Steve said with a smile, clearly encouraged by seeing how Soda was acting.

Darry watched as Soda drifted back to sleep. He looked over to see that Pony was still resting peacefully as well. Despite how broken his brothers looked, he knew full well and from experience that this night could have been so much worse. Somehow they had gotten lucky. Somehow they had survived this particular tragedy with everyone they loved still alive. And after they had some time to heal everything really was going to be okay.


End file.
